Winter's Burn
by walkingtallagainstherain
Summary: One-shot. One winter's night Gavroche runs into Eponine while she is keeping guard while the Patron-Minette rob a house. When Eponine realises her little brother is sick, she does what she can to help him, even if it means crossing her father, with terrible consequences. Part of the 'Only a Kid' series but can be read on it's own. Rated T for violence.


**So this is my 100 follower gift, as a thank you to all the people who have followed and reviewed my main fic 'Only a Kid But Hard to Scare'. This fic is linked with that one, but it could also be read as a stand alone. For those who have read 'Only a Kid', this is set probably between Chapters 7 and 8. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_"'Parnasse, hold her down."_

_"What for? She's virtually passed out."_

_"Just do it!" Thenardier shouted, as he heated the end of the fire iron in the fire. Eponine lay curled up in a ball on the floor, fresh bruises littering her skin. _

_Montparnasse walked over to her, grabbing her arms and pinning them above Eponine's head. She made a half-hearted attempt to get away from him, but her body protested to any sudden movement after the beating she had received, so after less than a minute she gave in, hoping she would black out before Montparnasse starting touching her._

_Thenardier lifted the poker out of the fire and spat on it. His spit instantly turned to steam as it made contact with the white-hot piece of iron. He walked over to where his daughter was pinned to the floor, kneeling down and bending over her, looking her straight in the eye. By this point Eponine's vision was starting to blur, but she tried to stay conscious as she heard the ripping of her dress._

_"Wait till he's gone 'Parnasse." She muttered, forgetting that Montparnasse was sat at her head, holding her wrists to stop her escaping. It was her father that was ripping her dress, so there was a patch of skin exposed above her naval._

_"This is for you almost getting us caught by the police, and for running off so see **that boy **when I told you too stay put." _

_Eponine didn't understand what he ment, until there was an excruciating pain radiating from her stomach as her father pressed the fire iron to her skin. Eponine screamed out agony and began thrashing about, but couldn't move due to Montparnasse pinning her wrists to the floor. Tears where streaming down her cheeks as her father lifted the poker off her, watching as the skin blistered into the shape of the iron._

_The pain was a hundred, a thousand times worse than the feeling of her fathers belt on her back, and Eponine was silently pleading that she would pass out so the pain would stop._

_"Eponine...Eponine...Eponine!" She could hear someone calling her, but their voice was too far away, and she could feel herself slip into the tendrils of unconsciousness..._

* * *

Enjolras was shaking Eponine, trying to get her to wake up. He knew she was having another nightmare as she was whimpering in what seemed like pain and thrashing her head around on the bed. Suddenly her whimpers turned to screams of pure terror, and Enjolras knew that he had to wake her up soon, or she'd start having a panic attack.

"Eponine...Eponine, it's me, you're safe, I promise you are safe, please baby, please just wake up." He muttered the same things over and over, calling her name and stroking her hair, trying to do anything to get her to wake up.

Suddenly, Eponine sat bolt upright in bed, her hands clutching her stomach where her, now healed, burn was. She could feel tears on her cheeks as her body started shaking. Enjolras sat up and place a hand on her back, but the effect was as if he had given her an electric shock because she jumped out of the bed and ran into the corner of the room.

She cowered in the corner of the room, sobbing, her eyes wide with fear. Enjolras got out of bed and walked over to her, kneeling down so he was on the same level as her. He reached out to touch her, but she flinched away from him.

"Eponine." Enjolras said softly, giving her space so that she could see he wasn't a threat. "It's just me sweetheart, there's no one else here. I promise you, you are safe."

"Enjy?" Eponine asked, as if she had only just seen him. Enjolras smiled at her.

"Yes, just me, nobody else." Eponine leapt forward into his arms, sobbing into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her and gently stroked the top of her head, whispering sweet words into her ears.

Once Eponine had calmed down a little they both got back into bed, Enjolras sitting up slightly as Eponine rested her head in the crook of his neck, her fingers playing with the ones he had rested on his chest.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Enjolras asked carefully. Whenever Eponine had a nightmare he had to be carefull what to say afterwards, as he didn't want to make her more upset than she already was.

Initially Eponine was going to say no, but she realised that Enjolras was going to ask about the burn at some point, and she might as well tell him now, as the memory was fresh in her mind.

"Okay, but I warn you it's a not very nice, and kinda long story." Eponine said, looking up and Enjolras.

"It's okay, I like a good story." He smiled at her and waited for her to begin. Eponine took a deep breath, and began her story.

"It happened last winter, around Christmas time. I was helping to keep a look out for the Patron-Minette while they broke into a house...

* * *

Eponine wrapped her thin shawl around her bony shoulders, in a vain attempt to stop the cold winter air chilling her to the bone. She guessed that she had been standing out in the cold for about an hour, but it was hard to tell as the winter fog hid the moon from sight. Plus, it became dark so early and the sun didn't rise till well into the morning, so that it could be 5 hours either side of midnight and you couldn't tell the difference.

Eponine was standing watch as her father's gang, the infamous Patron-Minette, robbed a house while it's owners were away, Eponine assumed visiting relatives for Christmas. Just like the Christmas the year before, and the one before that, Eponine received nothing from her parents apart from harsh words and the occasional fist. She thought back to the Christmases at her family's inn when she was a child, a roaring fire, her father telling her and Azelma stories on Christmas Eve before tucking them into bed, their dreams filled of flying reindeer and the promise of presents. Running down the stairs early on Christmas Day to a pile of presents under the tree, dresses, toys, sweets.

Eponine's thoughts were interrupted when she saw her little brother on the other side of the street. After his sister caught his attention, Gavroche ran over to her.

"What you doing out here?" He asked, looking up at the house.

"I'm keeping watch, Gavroche it's freezing, why aren't you in the Elephant?!"

"I had to get something to eat, I haven't had anything all day." Eponine felt her pockets, hoping she had something to give him, but they were all empty. She always felt guilty when she couldn't help him out, especially in the winter months when food was harder to come by.

"I'm sorry 'Vroche, I haven't got anything on me."

"It's alright, I can keep looking." Gavroche almost doubled over as he went into a coughing fit. Eponine rubbed his back gently until he stopped and gave her a small smile. It was then that Eponine noticed that Gavroche's lips were almost blue.

"Gavroche you've got to get somewhere warm, you're sick and you'll get much worse if you stay out in the cold."

Before Gavroche could reply Eponine clamped a hand over his mouth and pulled him against her, pressing her back into the wall. Seconds later two police men came past on horse back, not noticing the siblings in the shadows. Once Eponine was sure that they had gone, she let go of a wriggling Gavroche.

"Sorry 'bout that." Eponine apologised.

"It's okay, good thing you noticed them in time, or there would have been trouble."

"Yes it was a good thing that you noticed them, shame you couldn't have warned us though." Eponine spun round upon hearing her father's voice, instinctively pushing Gavroche behind her.

"I'm sorry Papa. They came past too quickly." Eponine lied. She knew that she would have seen them instantly if she hadn't been talking to Gavroche, and so facing the other way.

"Oh really? If they came past so quickly then how come, when Babet saw them coming down the street we had enough time to get out of the house and hide in the garden?"

"I... they..." Eponine stuttered, slowly pushing Gavroche backwards, hoping he'd get the hint and run.

"Perhaps if you weren't talking to the local street urchins, you would be able to do your job properly." Eponine nodded, stepping backwards as her father came toward her.

"Maybe I should teach him a lesson for interfering where he isn't wanted." Thenardier put a hand on his belt.

"Don't. You. Dare." Eponine hissed, looking her father directly in the eyes.

"What did you say to me?"

"I said, don't you dare. I'm not 10 years old anymore, I will not hide away while you beat my brother like you did when I was a child. Let him go, it's me that's at fault here, I should have watched out for the police."

_"Don't_ talk to me like that, you little hussy. You may not be a child anymore, but I can still do what I want to _my _children." Thenardier made a lunge for Gavroche, but Eponine blocked him.

"You stopped being his father the day you threw him out into the cold when he was four years old. But I am still his sister, and I won't let you hurt him. The police didn't catch you, and you still have your loot. Let him go."

Thenardier glared at his daughter, before turning back to the other members of the gang. While they were discussing what to do with the objects they had stolen, Eponine turned back to Gavroche.

"Gavroche, get out of here. Go straight back to the Elephant and stay there, you can't risk being in the streets tonight, if you don't die your death a cold, you'll run into papa, and he won't be happy to see you. I'll come to you in a bit, and I'll bring some food with me. Go!"

Gavroche didn't argue after seeing the confrontation between his (he despised to call him) father and his sister, silently running down the street and into the night.

"You and me need to have a little conversation, don't we?" Thenardier gripped Eponine's arm tightly, practically draging back to their home, where Eponine was sure there would be a beating in store for her.

* * *

Thenardier threw Eponine into the room that was considered their home, sending her sprawling to the floor. She got up quickly, rubbing her arm where her father had grabbed her, she was certain that there was going to be bruises the next day.

"What have I told you about talking to _that boy._" Thenardier spat at his daughter, back handing her across the face. Eponine could taste the metallic taste of blood in her mouth as she replied.

"Not to Papa. But he's still my brother." Eponine managed to stop herself from flinching when she heard the unmistakable sound of her father's belt being removed from his trousers.

"He is not a part of this family, so you'll have nothing to do with him, you understand?" Eponine nodded, but didn't say anything. Thenardier brought his belt down on his daughters back. Hard.

"I said. Do. You. Un. Der. Stand." Each syllable was met with another lash from her fathers belt.

"I understand Papa." Eponine said through gritted teeth. She refused to give her father the satisfaction of responding to his beatings through cries or tears.

"Good." He hit her once more, then put his belt back on. "I'm going to meet up with the boys to settle up. Stay here, 'Parnasse said he might want you tonight." Eponine cringed but just replied with:

"Yes papa." As her father left. Once he was gone Eponine searched the house for something to give Gavroche to eat, ignoring the pain in her back. She managed to find some bread that was only a day or so old and a small amount of cheese. Despite not remembering when she had last eaten properly Eponine stopped herself from eating any of the bread as Gavroche needed it more.

Eponine slipped out the window facing the back of the garret, in case her father was waiting to see if she would try to sneak out, and made her way across the city.

* * *

"I manged to get to Gavroche without a problem, gave him the food and made sure he was warm enough and promising to get Joly to look at him, and then made my way back home."

"Then what?" Enjolras asked

"That's when it started getting worse. Montparnasse and my father were waiting for me when I got back. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't made three mistakes..."

* * *

"Where have you been?!" Thenardier shouted, grabbing his daughter by the hair and dragging her inside, before throwing her to the floor near to where Montparnasse was standing. "He's been waiting for you!"

"I...I went for a walk Papa." Eponine lied, her stomach churning as she look up and saw Montparnasse leering at her.

"You can punish her for wandering off if you want Boss." Montparnasse said, walking over to Eponine. "She's easier to control when some of the fights taken out of her." He ran a finger down Eponine's cheek, sneering at her.

"What, aren't you man enough to fight me on my own, Monty?" Eponine spat. Mistake One. Her comment earnt her a kick in the ribs from Montparnasse, and his hands around her throat.

"I could do it you know 'Ponine. I've done it so many times. Just squeeze and squeeze and squeeze until they stop breathing." Each time Montparnasse said squeeze, his hands tightened around Eponine's throat for a minute before relaxing.

"You can do that all you want 'Parnasse, after I've finished with her." Thenardier growled, and Montparnasse released his hands from Eponine's throat.

"Get her off the floor." Montparnasse did what he was told, lifting Eponine off the floor and standing her up, pinning her arms behind her back.

"I'll ask you again. Where did you go?"

"I went for a walk, that was it." Eponine said, trying to ignore the fact Montparnasse's hands were slipping lower than they should have been.

"Wrong!" Thenardier shouted and punched Eponine hard in the stomach. She would have doubled over, had Montparnasse not been holding her up.

"I'll ask again. Where did you go?" This went on for about 10 minutes, and Eponine thought that her father would believe her if she kept to the same story, but he just got angrier and angrier. After he had hit his daughter almost everywhere on her body, Eponine's legs felt like jelly. Thenardier mentioned for Montparnasse to let go of her, and she fell to the floor, her legs unable to support her weight. Thenardier stood over her.

"I'll ask you one, more, time. Where did you go?" Eponine didn't think her body could take another hit, so she told him the truth. That was her second mistake.

"I went to see Gavroche. He's sick, I wanted to make sure he was okay." At the mention of his disowned son Thenardier got incredibly angry, and began kicking Eponine all along her body, only stopping at her head when Montparnasse mentioned that he had paid for her, and he realised that killing his own daughter would effect the amount of money he could make.

But Thenardier wanted to make sure that Eponine didn't disobey him again, when his eyes fell on the fireplace.

"'Parnasse, hold her down."

"What for? She's virtually passed out."

"Just do it!" Thenardier shouted, as he heated the end of the fire iron in the fire. Eponine lay curled up in a ball on the floor, fresh bruises littering her skin.

Montparnasse walked over to her, grabbing her arms and pinning them above Eponine's head. She made a half-hearted attempt to get away from him, but her body protested to any sudden movement after the beating she had received, so after less than a minute she gave in. That was Eponine's third and final mistake.

Thenardier lifted the poker out of the fire and spat on it. His spit instantly turned to steam as it made contact with the white-hot piece of iron. He walked over to where his daughter was pinned to the floor, kneeling down and bending over her, looking her straight in the eye. By this point Eponine's vision was starting to blur, but she tried to stay conscious as she heard the ripping of her dress.

"Wait till he's gone 'Parnasse." She muttered, forgetting that Montparnasse was sat at her head, holding her wrists to stop her escaping. It was her father that was ripping her dress, so there was a patch of skin exposed above her naval.

"This is for you almost getting us caught by the police, and for running off so see _that boy _when I told you too stay put."

Eponine didn't understand what he ment, until there was an excruciating pain radiating from her stomach as her father pressed the fire iron to her skin. Eponine screamed out agony and began thrashing about, but couldn't move due to Montparnasse pinning her wrists to the floor. Tears where streaming down her cheeks as her father lifted the poker off her, watching as the skin blistered into the shape of the iron.

The pain was a hundred, a thousand times worse than the feeling of her fathers belt on her back, and Eponine was silently pleading that she would pass out so the pain would stop.

Eponine faintly heard her father say that Montparnasse could do what he wanted with her, and feeling his hands on her skin before her head started spinning in a daze of pain, and she blacked out.

* * *

"... all I can remember from the next day was that it had snowed during the night so I took an old rag and stuffed it full of snow to press against the burn. It's all healed now but I asked Joly about it after I got stabbed, and he said that I'm going to have it for the rest of my life." Eponine finished her story and looked up at Enjolras.

He had tears in his eyes, and as he looked down at her, two of them spilled down his cheeks. Eponine reached up and kissed them both, stopping them in their path.

"Why are you crying?" She asked.

"I never thought that somebody could do that to their own child." Enjorlas said, pulling Eponine tighter in his arms.

"It doesn't matter now. You're here, and that's all I need to know."

"I promise to keep you safe, and strong, and that you can always sleep in my embrace." Enjolras said, kissing the top of her head.

Eponine was quiet for a moment, and Enjolras assumed she was asleep, before he heard her say.

"I do believe, M'sieur Enjolras, that I am a little bit in love with you."

And with that they fell asleep.

* * *

***Shameless plugging time***

**I have done another one-shot to do with the 'Only a kid'... do you call it a universe? world?...hmmm... anyway to do with the 'Only a Kid'... stuff, called 'Defeating the King', links to that and 'Only a Kid' are on my profile.**

**I like doing these sort of but not really connected one-shots, so if you want me to do anymore just drop a review or message.**

**Please review!**


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